The ranking uses 11 indicators to measure aspects of business regulation across 190 countries worldwide. Of the top 20 economies in the list, 14 are high-income OECD economies.

However, many countries are implementing significant reforms: India is one of the top ten to have improved most this year, although it still ranks 100th. Sub-Saharan Africa now has the widest variation in performance across the countries ranked: while Mauritius comes in 25th place, Somalia is 190th.

Keep scrolling for the top 12 economies in the ease of doing business ranking:

12. Estonia — same place as last year.

This country performs particularly well for registering property, which takes an average of 17.5 days and costs 0.5% of the property's value, and for starting a business, which takes an average of 3.5 days.

11. Macedonia — down from 10th last year.

This is the only upper-middle-income economy on the list, and has carried out the second highest number of reforms among the top 20. These have included sweeping construction reforms, which significantly reduced the number of procedures and time it takes to build a warehouse.

It also scores particularly highly for protecting minority investors, coming in 4th overall.

7. UK — same place as last year.

The UK remains in the same spot as last year, despite the vote to leave the EU and ongoing Brexit uncertainty.

However, the country dropped from 20th to 29th place for ease of getting credit. It also plummeted from 10th to 23rd place for ease of paying taxes, after filing trax processes became more difficult.

6. United States — up from 8th last year.

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This year the US (Los Angeles) improved labour market regulation, establishing a maximum of six working days of paid sick leave a year.

The country also comes in third for resolving insolvency. Meanwhile, information about land ownership is freely available in the US.

5. Hong Kong — down from 4th last year.

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Hong Kong made starting a business more expensive this year, by reintroducing the business registration fee. However, it improved the quality of its land administration system, making registering property easier.

The country is also third overall for starting a business and for paying taxes.

4. Korea — up from 5th last year.

In the construction field, an independent third party cannot charge more than 1.29% of the estimated construction cost.

3. Denmark — same place as last year.

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Denmark made dealing with construction permits more expensive this year by raising the cost of building permits and the cost of obtaining a water and sewage connection. However, it still ranks 1st overall in construction.

It is also 1st overall for trading across borders.

2. Singapore — same place as last year.

Thomson Reuters

This year Singapore adopted legislation requiring employers to notify the Ministry of Manpower when terminating a group of nine redundant workers.

It also amended its Companies Act to make ownership more transparent, and now requires locally-incorporated companies and foreign companies registered in Singapore to maintain beneficial ownership information and to make the data public upon request.

It also made exporting and importing easier by improving infrastructure and electronic equipment at the port.

1. New Zealand — retains the top spot from last year.

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New Zealand, along with 16 other economies this year, reformed the way taxes are paid by introducing systems for filing and paying taxes online.

The country scores highly for building regulations, and all relevant legislation can be found on an official government website.

For starting a business, New Zealand comes in 1st overall: it has the smallest number of procedures required (one) and the shortest time to fulfill them (0.5 days).